Why Can’t I Invest in Something Really, Truly Good?
Just Futures uses rigorous analyses to provide you with progressive investment options. Meanwhile, we are working to improve our current financial system to be able to, over time, offer you increasingly better places to put your retirement savings.
Some of our investors have expressed interest in putting their money toward regenerative projects, that is, investments that give back to communities and foster collective power building. We truly appreciate clients who are dedicated to making the world prosperous, equitable and sustainable, and we are doing our best to offer investment vehicles to match their goals.
Where the finance sector is currently
The public market is where everyday investors typically purchase stocks, bonds, and mutual funds. Products for purchase there are mostly extractive. We define extractive investments as those that exploit communities by withdrawing wealth, value, or resources to primarily benefit people in a relative position of power.
Many asset managers see the huge and growing demand for investment products that align with investors’ desire to make the world a better place. For example, investment firm Nuveen found: “[. . .] 91% of millennial and Gen Z investors agree that having [responsible investing] options on their retirement menus would make them more loyal to their company [. . .]” As a result, you can now find many options labeled “responsible,” “green,” “impact,” or “environmental, social and government (ESG).” Unfortunately, much of this is a mixed bag in terms of actual impact.
Investors motivated to make positive social impact debate which investment practices, metrics, and policies will advance their goals. But some of the investment products are just greenwashing: extractive investments repackaged in wrappers using co-opted language about sustainability. For example, in 2022 the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigated three of Goldman Sachs’s ESG products. The SEC found that Goldman did not have a written policy to legitimate its ESG research and, when the firm finally did establish policies, it flouted them. The public markets are largely focused on maximizing profits, as opposed to prioritizing people in need and our planet.
Compared to the public market - which trades in stock of only about 4,000 companies - more than 27 million privately-held enterprises exist. This means the public market only represents less than one percent of the total market! In the private market, we find opportunities to invest in initiatives that build power in working-class communities of color. At Just Futures, we especially want to promote Social Justice Investing, which we define as investing that:
Examples include local solutions to the climate crisis, worker-owned cooperatives, and community-owned real estate. These are the kinds of community-strengthening small businesses which many of our clients would love to support with their retirement investment dollars.
Unfortunately, numerous barriers – including high minimum investment dollar amounts, accreditation requirements, the need to hire expensive professionals to execute special contracts, and geographical residency requirements – prevent most everyday people from investing in cool projects like Black Farmer Fund, which supports Black-owned, food and agriculture businesses in the Northeast. We plan to break down these barriers over future years, so you can invest for retirement while supporting projects that really, truly align with your values.
NOTE: for institutional investors, we have more flexibility to invest in private market products. To learn more about our institutional asset management service, please reach info@justfutures.com.
The Just Futures advantage
We think our fund lineup is among the more rigorously values-vetted options available, given the constraints. You can read more about our screens in our post What is Shareholder Activism? Further, we hold ourselves accountable to social justice through our partial ownership by social movement groups, who sit on our board of directors and our investment committee.
Additionally, we pride ourselves on providing public education. Through writings and workshops, we want to demystify our society’s harmful financial system and explain how we, collectively, can change it to serve everyday people and our one planet, not just a privileged few. We regularly produce content on topics that include personal finance, shareholder activism, and politicizing retirement.
If your employer doesn't offer a retirement plan, or if they contract with a different administrator, we’d love to show you the Just Futures advantage! You can reach us at info@justfutures.com.